Hoosiers Want To Ride Their Freshman Wave Into Michigan Game

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- In a game that saw many things reworked for the Indiana Hoosiers, they were able to come away with a 27-0 win over Charleston Southern at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington.

It was their first shutout since 1993. It was Peyton Ramsey's first start at quarterback as well. Ramsey, who was named the new started by head coach Tom Allen earlier in the week had a fantastic outing against the Buccaneers, throwing for 321 yards on 32-of-41 passing with both of his touchdowns going to fellow freshman Taystir Mack.

"He seemed to be very calm and ran things and protected the football,"Allen said of his young quarterback. "I think, to get this game under his belt to go back into Big Ten play. Good flow for us on that."

The freshman wide receiver Mack hauled in seven of Ramsey's passes for 111 yards along with those two touchdowns.

"You know, he's one of our faster players on the whole team and really encouraged by his progress," said head coach Tom Allen after the game. "I challenged Taysir to rise up. We had some injuries at that position and so that's what freshmen are supposed to do."

Now the Hoosiers get back into conference play as they host #17 Michigan, who lost to unranked rival Michigan State last Saturday at the Big House in Ann Arbor.

"I'm a guy that goes back and studies history, and we haven't beaten Michigan in 30 years," Allen says ahead of this weekend game. "We have beaten them twice in the past 50 years. There's no question they will comeback with resurgence. It's a Big-10 football game and we expect to get their very best."

With original starter at quarterback Wilton Speight still out with an injury, the Hoosiers will be seeing a heavy dose of next man up John O'Korn. Since Speight's exit O'Korn has picked up the slack, leading the Wolverines to win a win over Purdue before falling to Michigan State.

"O'Korn's more mobile, he creates more issues there for sure," Allen remembers of the fifth year senior from last year's game against Michigan. "I know in our game last year, his scramble, when we had him, had a chance to get him sacked and did not, that was a huge play in the game and momentum and they went on to score a couple plays later.

There was talk that Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh would bring up Avon-native Brandon Peters after O'Korn's performance against the Spartans, but Harbaugh told the Detroit Free Press this week that that was not the case.

The Hoosiers and the Wolverines will go at it at 12-NOON EDT on 107.5 FM and 1070 The Fan.